Less than 10 seconds after officers opened the door, police shot Yong Yang in his parents’ Koreatown home while he was holding a knife during a bipolar episode.

Less than 10 seconds after officers opened the door, police shot Yong Yang in his parents’ Koreatown home while he was holding a knife during a bipolar episode.

Parents in Los Angeles’ Koreatown called for mental health help in the middle of their son’s bipolar episode this month. Clinical personnel showed up — and so did police shortly after.

Police fatally shot Yong Yang, 40, who had a knife in his hand, less than 10 seconds after officers opened the door to his parents’ apartment where he had locked himself in, newly released bodycam video shows.

Now the parents of Yang, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder around 15 years ago, have told NBC News exclusively that they are disputing part of the account captured on bodycam, in which police recount a clinician’s saying Yang was violent before the shooting on May 2.

  • BakerBagel@midwest.social
    943·
    7 months ago

    We had this happen in my town a couple weeks ago. Cop got called for a mental health check because a 19year old with a knife was acting erratic. Cop pulls up and gets out the car, the kid runs at him yelling “shoot me! Shoot me! Shoot me!” so the cop pulled out his gun and shot him. Didn’t go for the tazer or the his mace, just right to deadly force despite being called over specifically to prevent the kid from dying.

    Cops should neve, under any circumstances, be called in for a mental episode. All they will do is escalate the situation and cause harm.

    • dan@upvote.au
      231·
      7 months ago

      The family didn’t call the cops in this case. They called a mental health crisis team, and that team called the cops due to the presence of a weapon.

    • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
      1258·
      7 months ago

      At the same time you can call social services and you end up with them being dead instead because someone having a psychotic episode slashed/shot them…

      Edit: Thanks for the downvotes, you can now take the time to go two replies down for a bunch of examples

    • refalo@programming.dev
      1160·
      7 months ago

      Cops should neve, under any circumstances, be called in for a mental episode

      Yea I’m gonna have to disagree with you hard on this one. Just because you dislike police or have had bad experiences does not mean you should let someone having a crisis subject others around them to a very real possibility of imminent danger because “cops bad”.

      Do police need more training? Sure. Do they need major reform in many areas? Of course. But are they all bad? No.

      • jnk@sh.itjust.works
        421·
        7 months ago

        The mere presence of a cop, even without a visible weapon, will escalate any situation regarding mentally unstable people. Period.

        If you don’t understand why a person going through a crisis would freak out when a figure of (ultimately violent) power appears right after they picked a weapon you have a serious problem with basic empathy.

        For the record, I haven’t had any bad experiences with cops, in fact every interaction I’ve had so far has been either neutral or actually pretty nice. I’ve had my fair share of breakdowns as a teenager tho, and I can assure you that a cop would’ve never helped a single time. Even the nicest one.

        • deweydecibel@lemmy.worldEnglish
          212·
          7 months ago

          Look at the report for this case, for example:

          The officers met with DMH personnel outside the residence who indicated that the DMH were called to the scene due to Yang’s erratic and threatening behavior. The officers were also advised that Yang did not live at the location, and had attempted to assault one of the DMH employees when they attempted to speak with him. Based on their assessment, DMH determined Yang was a danger to others.

          In their efforts to assist DMH personnel, the officers requested additional units, a supervisor, and notified the Department’s Mental Evaluation Unit. Several attempts were made to communicate with Yang and encourage him to exit the residence; however, he refused. After formulating a plan and obtaining a key to the residence, the officers ascended a narrow staircase leading to the front door. The officers announced their presence and then utilized the key to open the front door. As they did so, Yang was observed standing in the living room several feet away, armed with a large kitchen knife. Moments later, Yang advanced toward the officers and an Officer Involved Shooting occurred.

          Here’s the singular question:

          What was the rush?

          They needed to take him in, but they are afraid of him acting erratic and wielding a knife.

          Why the fuck do they push to enter the building? There was no one in there. He could not hurt anyone while he remained hold up inside other than himself.

          Why couldn’t they just wait him out?

          By pushing to resolve the situation immediately and forcing their way in, they *exacerbated the situation.

          I think they should have been called, but they should be there as backup in case someone is getting attacked. But no one was in danger here until they entered. There was no reason to push this. All they did was create a reason to kill him in self defense.

          • jorp@lemmy.world
            152·
            7 months ago

            You missed the options of using “less lethal” force as well, why go for live ammo immediately?

            • pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online
              39·
              7 months ago

              Because when someone is rushing at you with a deadly weapon, you may only get one shot, and not all ‘less lethal’ options are effective, especially on someone in a mental health crisis.

              I agree that the cops never should have entered the premises in the first place, but in this instance they did and the victim had already been a direct threat to others. This one instance really isn’t a case of cops murdering an innocent person for absolutely no reason.

              • JonEFive@midwest.social
                2·
                7 months ago

                That really depends on how you look at it. They did murder an innocent person exactly because they made the wrong decision to engage in the first place. You can’t put yourself in harms way when it isn’t necessary then blame the danger you knew about in advance.

                My opinion would be different if there was someone else in the apartment for them to defend, but there wasn’t.

                The cops made a bad call and now someone is dead.

          • brygphilomena@lemmy.world
            12·
            7 months ago

            One of my biggest complaints with police and why things escalate unnecessarily is because they are fucking impatient. They give “orders” and if you don’t comply immediately you are met with force.

            • madcaesar@lemmy.world
              8·
              7 months ago

              They are insecure, poorly educated bullies. Everything makes sense once you realize this about police in the US.

              In my town having gone and served in Afghanistan basically allowed you to become a cop once you returned states side. No degree or special training needed.

              • JonEFive@midwest.social
                12·
                7 months ago

                TBF, I’d rather a soldier show up at my door than a cop. At least soldiers are usually better trained in discipline, situational awareness, and appropriately evaluating threats. They are also trained on rules of engagement and usually aren’t terrified about every single engagement they find themselves in.

                Maybe our police would be better if they received the same level of training as soldiers. And maybe that’s it. Soldiers are more confident in their abilities because they’ve received adequate training.

                • madcaesar@lemmy.world
                  1·
                  7 months ago

                  Dude a soldier in this case is a 20 year old grunt that joined at 18. You’re not getting 30 year old officers joining the cop force.

      • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        101·
        7 months ago

        Exactly how much training do you think someone needs to not unload a gun on someone within 10 seconds of seeing them? Somehow every other non-cop present managed to not use him for target practice.

        The bastard in question is even a repeat offender:

        Lopez had been involved in a 2021 nonfatal shooting of a man who had a replica firearm.

        Cops are bastards because the non-bastards either get fired, harassed out, or murdered. Being nice to people while you turn a blind eye to the shit your coworkers do is still being a bastard.

        • pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online
          37·
          7 months ago

          According to the report, the dude had already attacked a mental health worker with the knife. Yeah, it sucks that they were in a mental health crisis, but they were absolutely a threat to others.

          The cops absolutely should have been there, but they should have only been there protecting the mental health workers instead of entering the premises and confronting him. .

          • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
            8·
            7 months ago

            According to the report, the dude had already attacked a mental health worker with the knife.

            That’s interesting, because it’s not what the health worker said.

            “He just tried to attack me and the father,” a clinician, whose face is blurred, says in the video as Min Yang, whose face is also blurred, walks into the conversation. “He became very aggressive. He tried to kick me. I walk away. He had some physical altercation.”

            Also of note is that his father disputes that even that happened:

            Min Yang added that he was standing between his son and a clinician and never witnessed any kicking or physical violence, only shouting.